


Adaptation

by Starofwinter



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Adaptation, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25449376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: This is not Asgard, and she misses her home.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	Adaptation

She brings a bag of seeds and a handful of Asgardian soil.

It's her gift. She can make anything flourish, no matter how lifeless and wilted it is.

When they reach Midgard, she starts a garden. The soil is almost useless - tired, used up, too over-harvested to be fruitful anymore. Many of her precious seeds, the only remnants of home she has left, don't grow. In her worst moments, she sits in the garden and cries, grieving for the loss of the home she'd loved. It feels hopeless, lost in an alien world that's too far removed from everything she's known. Odin is gone, Thor is away, fighting alongside his allies, and here they are, trying to rebuild from nothing.

She carefully tills the ground, turning over rows and rows of soil, mixing in the compost she's been cultivating and the last soil of Asgard. It’s all she can do now, so she puts her back into the work, trying to ignore the tears leaving clean streaks on her dirty cheeks. 

The first growth shows moments later, soft green tendrils stretching up through the soil where her tears had fallen. The tears of frustration and grief turn to tears of joy, and the green spreads, more plants reaching their small shoots up toward the sun. 

They grow slower after that, weeks instead of days as they would have on Asgard, and they’re  _ different _ , not the familiar shapes of wish-flowers and honeyhocks, they’re hybrids. Born of both Asgard and Midgard, they’re smaller, more delicate, but no less magic-filled or beautiful than those of Asgard. 

Still, they grow strong. Her garden blooms with rainbows and sweet scents, and the healing tinctures and salves she makes get a reputation in the nearby town. She doesn’t take money unless they press her, preferring to accept small gifts; some fish, a quilt, practical things as she always had. She sits with the children and the elders and teaches these humans - such short-lived, beautiful beings, burning themselves out so quickly - everything she knows. She gives gifts of her own, besides the healing tinctures and salves and medicines; passes on cuttings and fruit and seeds of those first hybrids, blessed to thrive in this new home. 

Somewhere along the way, she grows too. Grows to love her new home, her new garden, her new friends. It isn’t Asgard, but she’s adapted to suit her new environment as well. 

**Author's Note:**

> I had a different ending planned for this when I started it two years ago, but I don't remember what it was, so this is the new and fancy fresh version!


End file.
